I am so glad it's Friday {who isn't}. A 3 day weekend is a great weekend indeed! It also marks the end of "summer" and the start of Fall! I can see some baking in my weekend {probably because I purchased a huge tub of blueberries at Sam's and I need to use them before they go bad}. I also want to bake some Pumpkin Apple Muffins! {YUM!}

Let's get to:

High Five for Friday!!

One - I'm not going to lie, sometimes I carry my cat around {at least until he wiggles out of my arm's or tried to bite me}. This is me {AWFUL photo of myself} holding on Mokes. He is ready to get down as you can tell. HAHA.

Two - Wednesday, Keeley decided she needed some sun on her fur after being inside all day. I sat in the shade, it was too hot out to be in the sun!

Three - My lunches this week. A salad with provel cheese and sunflower seeds and a turkey and cheese "roll-up". SO GOOD!

Four - Keeley decided to snuggle up to Andy last night. It was too cute! She loves him so much!

Five - Birthday treats!! Coldstone Cookie Sandwiches. Those are birthday cake ice cream with sprinkles and a chocolate chip cookie! SOOOOO GOOD! I pre-ordered these on Tuesday after the gym. $10.80 for 4 of them, not too shabby!

I would like to say an extra special CONGRATULATIONS to my bloggy friend Jenn over at The Adventures of Our Army Life! She just announced that her and her husband Kyle are expecting a baby next year! I am so excited for the two of them!! :)

My plans for the weekend: pool time, baking, cleaning, eating good food, really getting into working out starting September 1st, relaxing and possibly some sewing....I think I can handle all of that! I hope you all enjoy your Labor Day Weekend! :)

I left 2 birthday cards for Andy on his desk this morning {lucky duck, he get's to work from home today!}. One card was from me, the other from the fur-babies. :) Here's hoping Smokey and Keeley are treating him well on his birthday. Tonight's plans, dinner is his choice and dessert {which I plan on picking up on my way home tonight after work}. I did not get him a present because he asked that I save the money for a present towards the purchase of the projector that will go in our basement when it is finished. That reminds me, I really need to take some photo's the basement for you all to see the progress. Andy and his Dad have done an amazing job so far!!

Happy, Happy Birthday Andrew!!

May all your dreams come true!

Happy, Happy Birthday from all of us {me, Smokey and Keeley}

To YOUUUU!!

{yep, he is totally going to laugh at me around 9 PM when he reads this...}

I woke up this morning groggy! Don't you hate it when you hit your snooze and in between your first alarm and second alarm {a whopping 10 minutes} you end up dreaming again and wake up to the second alarm super groggy from dreaming? It wasn't even worth the snooze when you that tired. 2 more mornings this week!

Andy and I went to Sam's on Monday night for 2 things. We came out of the store with this:

A cart full of stuff. I will say, we did manage to remember the two things we only came in for. That's always plus. :)

Monday was also National Dog Appreciation Day. So naturally I had to take my Keeley on a little walk {because it was so hot outside, we made the walk a little bit shorter than normal}. I snapped a photo of me and her to commemorate the day.

Please excuse the lack of makeup or care for my hair. It was 8 PM and I was ready to wash the face and get ready for bed. :)

I am lacking motivation lately at work and at working out on a regular basis. Just need to snap out of it.

Today is Andy's last day of being 28. Tomorrow it's the big 29 for him! I may have ordered a special treat to commemorate his day. I also plan on taking him out for dinner, his choice of course!

Today also marks the hottest day of the year here in St. Louis. The high is suppose to be 97. but with the heat index, were talking in the 100's. Next week the weather is looking much cooler and maybe start to get into the Fall weather? Here's hoping!

Tonight I am meeting up with my friend Ali for some Froyo with her adorable boys! So excited to see them.

Whew, what a Tuesday morning that I was not expecting! I start work at 7 AM {on purpose} and walked up to one of our buildings for some paperwork. Right when I walked out of the door I smelled something burning. At first I thought it was on of the residential houses nearby burning something out in their yard, then I thought a dumpster was on fire on campus. I started walking closer to it and realized it was a car in the parking lot. I made sure to call 911 to report it and get the fire department out here quickly. Thankfully someone else called a couple minutes before me. One of our employees car's just started to catch on fire while sitting in the parking lot, kind of odd. Thankfully the employee is safe and sound but his car is not so much.....it is certainly toasty! I wanted to get a photo of the car on fire, but thought it might be disrespectful to the employee and just not right ethically as a representative of Human Resources, but the blogger in me was dying to snap that.

I'm not going to lie, I am having a tough time getting motivated to get to the gym. I try to go right after work, but sometimes I talk myself out of it. For example, Friday. I had my clothes and shoes and drove to the gym, sat in the parking lot to make sure I had everything and sure enough, I forgot a sports bra. So did I run home and get a sports bra and go back up? No! Should I have, uh YES! The weekend was full of cleaning and whatever else, no "time" to get to the gym. Monday, I made sure I got to the gym. Andy even met me up there. I told him I had no motivation in this but he still made me go. I'm glad he made me go, but it's still difficult in getting myself to go up there. I like to treadmill, but get tired of the monotony of it fast. I think I am going to switch it up. Everyone other day the gym and the other days a workout DVD at home. I really would like to start the Jillian Michael's - 30 Day Shred and possibly the Yoga Meltdown. I also have the ability to do Zumba on the PS3. I haven't geared myself up to actually attend the free Zumba class at my gym. One day I will....I hope. :) What workout's are your favorite? Have you ever tried a Zumba class in a gym? Any workout DVD's you might suggest to help with my monotony problem?

All weekend long, I was anticipating the VMA's. Why you ask? Because the rumor of *NSync reuniting on stage!?!! I normally am not a fan of the VMA's and find them quite boring. But if you say the name *NSync, I am sooooo there! Poor Andy, I don't think he realized what a fan I was.....LOL. Sad, but true! Can I also say, Miley Cyrus was HORRIBLE!!! Ew, ew, ew, what in the world and why did her parents allow her to do that performance! Lady Gaga, more like Lady Blah Blah! So over her! Kanye West, stupid, auto-tune is awful and is not singing. I even saw that Kim Kardashian tweeted his performance the best of the night, uh hello, did you not see the amazing performance Justin Timberlake put on. Can we say delusional! Katy Perry's performance was good and I am excited for her new CD to come out, but it didn't compare to Justin.

OK enough of the VMA's. Onto my weekend and ending with more Justin.....

Friday -

I had every intention on going to the gym after work, had the clothes and shoes, pulled into the parking lot of the gym and realized I had no sports bra.....and I then left the gym and didn't go back. I know, I know, I am horrible!! That evening was spent watching TV and just enjoying some relaxing time together. Dinner was grilled chicken, corn on the cobb and a side salad. Dessert has been the chobani flip yogurt's like this one:

Saturday -

I swear that laundry is an evil, evil thing....I despise laundry with a passion! The whole moving it from washer to dryer to laying out flat until all of your laundry is done so you can hang it all up and put it away...so annoying! I did 10 loads of laundry that day. That included mine and Andy's dirty clothes, sheets and blankets. I also decided to get myself organized in my dresser. I got rid of 4 bags of clothes to give to the Goodwill. I am slowly but surely getting rid of the clutter! As you can see, I had some awesome helpers with the de-cluttering of my dresser.

Sunday -

I met up with my mom and sister for our usual Sunday shopping. Today's event, shopping for my sisters Homecoming dress!! We are so glad we did, because that place was packed! Her homecoming is next month, then I will post the photos of her dress. Andy and I then went over to his parents house for birthday celebrations of his mom Lynn and him. Dinner was smoked brisket and smoked flank steak, along with a salad, some potatoes and bread. I ate too much and made myself sick.....however, it was sooooo good!

Andy received a gift card to Amazon and some new BBQ tools. He was happy! We all went in and got Lynn a new iPad mini! She was soooo excited! She opened it up and started the set up. :) It was too funny! We then headed home and got ready for bed and started watching the VMA's. An hour in Justin Timberlake performed. Oh my gosh, AMAZING!!! A 16 minute performance is almost un-heard of with these artists and Justin did not disappoint! Also, an *NSync reunion on stage. It made my night and even my weekend. I was so pumped! I was that crazy teenager all over again, and even posted some things on Justin's instagram. Haha.

What am amazing thing Justin said, "I don't deserve this award, but I'm not going to give it back. I'm taking this home," Timberlake said during his speech."Half of my moon man that I ever won, I won with those four guys over there," he said pointing at his NSYNC bandmates.

Yay for Friday! I had the hardest time rolling myself out of bed this morning, I even thought about hitting the snooze until 6am and come into work late......buuuuuut I didn't. I got up like a big girl and got ready for work. Tonight, I am taking some PM medicine and getting a really good nights sleep. Woohoo for the weekend!!I was looking back in my blog posts and noticed that I haven't linked up for High Five for Friday since the end of June. That feels like forever ago so let's get back to one of my favorite posts!!

Last night was a busy one. I was at work late with an interview and then sat in more traffic than normal coming home{BOO!}. I ran to Target to pick up some more cold medicine for Andy and spent a whopping $94 there......yeah true story! Dinner was the ever exciting Taco Bell {bad Jess for getting fast food}, and then watched a little TV with Andy. Smokey and Keeley decided to be cuddle-bugs {which I am more than OK with} and I got some cute photo's of them. This is Smokey on the couch with me.

I have been to the gym twice this week. Tonight I plan on going right after work to get my workout in and done with. I have found that if I don't go right after work, I just won't go.

Andy feeling crummy and Keeley loving on him. So cute!

Hi Keeley! She looks sleepy here.

My new iPhone case came in yesterday!! Love it! The best part is, there is tiny silver sparkles over the cute chevron print! You can get it here on Amazon.

While I know my photo's are not as exciting this week, you can tell how much my fur-babies and Andy mean to me. :) This weekend's plans are to get the house clean and catch up on laundry. I am hoping to get some pool time in at some point. We are also going to celebrate Andy's birthday and my mother-in-law's birthday on Sunday. Their birthday's are on the 29th and the 31st, so we are celebrating early.

This morning started off like all the others, tired and trying to roll myself out of the bed.....Smokey came and slept with me for a couple hours this morning too; he loves me, what can I say. Andy wasn't feeling the best last night and is feeling a bit worse this morning. Boo :( I hope he is getting lots of rest and love from Smokey and Keeley today while he is at home sick. I drove to work with a cup of coffee in hand, wearing a new dress (love it by the way) and listening to some *NSync. Have you heard the rumors? Supposedly, *NSync will reunite on stage at the VMA's (MTV Video Music Awards). If this is true, I might freak out!!

Anyways, lets get to our Wednesday topic at hand:

My "Go-To" breakfast as of lately:

some kind of fruit (Strawberries on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday)and some low sugar oatmeal from Quaker Oats

My water bottle for the past couple of days....I love how it is a liter of water.

My goal is to drink at least 2 of these a day.

I do need to recycle this water bottle and use some of my good one's though...

Dinner last night, OMG SO GOOD!

After working out I was starving and I decided that a turkey and cheese melt sounded good, so I came up with my own sandwich "recipe". If you're like me, sandwiches are always better from a restaurant, not at home.

I put a little bit of butter on some break and toasted both sides for a minute. Then I took the bread out, put some sliced turkey and some shredded Imo's cheese (provel) on top and let the whole sandwich toast for a couple more minutes. Smush the two pieces together and cut diagonally. DELICIOUS!!!

I paired my delicious sandwich with a salad. I added in a little bit of provel cheese, some sunflower seeds and a little bit of French salad dressing. YUM again!!

Here's what the cheese looks like (It's heaven in a bag)

I am trying out a new coffee flavor and some new creamers

Jessica says: love the coffee flavor and love the new creamers!!

The sweet cream flavor is just plain delicious.

The chocolate/caramel flavor makes the coffee taste almost like hot chocolate! (SCORE!)

These opinions are solely my own. I was not compensated for trying out these products. If a company would like for me to try out their new products, please contact me at bettertogetherandforever@gmail.com

Here I am! Sorry I didn't get anything posted yesterday. I have been super busy since getting home and haven't gotten a chance to write anything. We arrive home to St. Louis on Sunday afternoon. I posted this on instagram as soon as we hit the Missouri state line.

You never know how much you love your home, until you are away from it for a couple of days. I missed Andy, Smokey and Keeley oh so much! All three of them were very happy to have me back home. I had a great time with my mom, sister, brother, sister in law, niece and nephew, but am glad to be back home.

I wanted to share some of my favorite photos from the weekend for you all to see.

My mom and I at the bridal/baby shower

My cousin Julia and I

The bride and mama to be!! She is due the end of October.

We took the kiddo's to the park before the wedding.

My sister and I are swinging.

Jackson insisted on me "riding" these with him.

I think I am a little too big.

Hanging out before the wedding.

Jackson is too cute!

Claire is ready for this wedding!

My sister and I at the reception.

The gorgeous bride walking down the aisle with her father

Their first kiss!!

LOVE her smile here! She is beaming!!

Me and bride! She was GORGEOUS!!

LOVE this photo! Kegan's hand is on the baby and her smile says a thousand words!